Mythical Mayan Mysteries of Mesoamerica
Logan Hahn
Trevor Goebel
Mrs. Glenn - Humanities
October 13th, 2014
Outline
Thesis - the Mayans were noted for their development of the only known written language that existed in the pre-Columbian Americas as well as for their contributions to the art, architecture, and mathematical systems.
Introduction
Inventions
Main Mythical Themes
History
Works Cited
Introduction The Mayans were once the supreme rulers in all of Mesoamerica and they used a lot of different techniques in their culture. Some of the most known myths around the world stem right from the Mayans in the Mesoamerican time period such as the creation of the world and the end of the world. They were also known for…show more content… One of the first main myths was about the creation of mankind, they go through a set of main sequences first were animals, then wet clay, then wood, and finally the creation of their first ancestors were created from maize dough which is basically corn to most of the United States and North America. Another main theme that the Mayans practiced all throughout history was about the creation and the end of the world. This was one of the most major themes of them all because they ended up being made into present day movies and pop culture like the movie “2012”. This movie was loosely based on the Mayans prediction that the world would end on December 21st, 2012. Obviously this movie was not the most accurate considering the fact that mankind is still alive and well. Several religious books say that the the collapse of the sky and the relation of the raising of the sky and the eradication of the five World Trees. Some more of the Mayan themes relate to the environment as the Mayans were very close to their environment. This Mayan myth defines the relationship between mankind, hunting, and crops where an ancestral hero turns the daughter of an Earth God into game, insects, snakes, bees, and if this all follows thru the hero will become the sun and the wife will become the moon. Another version of this myth is where a man is rewarded with a daughter of a rain deity…show more content… The most important documents that were found and discovered were called the Popol Vuh or the Book of the Council which contained creation stories of the Hero Twins which were considered mythical ancestors to the Mayans in a lot of their stories. In the early 19th and 20th centuries anthropologists ended up committing many stories on paper to better preserve them. However many Mayan myth tales are the direct result of many historical processes in which Spanish narrative traditions interacted with many native ones as well. Some of those mythic tales even date back all the way to pre-Spanish times. Now at the turn of the 21st century we started entering the modern times the transmitting of the old mythic tales has now entered its final stage. However this is also a time in which the Mayans themselves have taken it upon themselves to collect and salvage their mythic tales and publish them to keep the memories of their parents and grandparents alive and